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Aussie CEO James Symond has brought together some of the broking industry’s biggest businesses and federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to discuss the issues affecting the broking industry.
The lunchtime roundtable, organised by Aussie CEO James Symond, was held today (26 September) and brought together some of the largest businesses in the broking industry to discuss with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his senior adviser what the broking industry is facing and to fight for the rights of brokers.
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Hosted by Mr Symond and held at the Aussie head office in Sydney, the forum comprised the heads of Aussie, AFG, Choice, Connective, FAST, the FBAA, Loan Market, the MFAA, MoneyQuest, Mortgage Choice, nMB, PLAN and Smartline.
Collectively, it is believed that these companies represent around 95 per cent of the broking industry.
Speaking of the roundtable, Mr Symond said: “Change is the one constant in life and there is no doubt our industry is going through plenty of it.
“I believe you’re either part of change or a victim of it, so it was very important to pull together the major players in the mortgage broking industry to present our views direct to the Treasurer.”
He continued: “We are a vital part of the home loan and property sectors. It is important our significant contribution to today’s competitive mortgage landscape and the benefits our brokers provide to consumers are known by the highest echelons of government.
“We appreciate the Treasurer taking the time to meet with us today on behalf of our brokers and discuss the future of this most important part of the Australian economy.”
The meeting comes at a pertinent time for the broking industry, with the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry expected to hand down this week its initial findings in an interim report, which could include a focus on broker remuneration (given the closing remarks from the first round of hearings).
While the industry has seen an increased collaboration and cross-sector workings in recent months — with the Combined Industry Forum and Mortgage Broker Forum both forming to provide a voice for the broking industry off the back of scrutiny from the ASIC remuneration review, the Sedgwick review, the Productivity Commission and the royal commission — it is believed that this is the first time such a large group of broking businesses have sat with the Treasurer to discuss the issues face-to-face.
The Treasury is yet to publish an official response to ASIC’s remuneration review, but in a recent background paper to the financial services royal commission, the government department outlined that it did not believe there was “compelling evidence of major problems that require a wholesale change to the existing standard commission structure given the industry reforms currently underway”.
[Related: Treasury releases its thoughts on broker remuneration]
